Happy New Year! COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog

Happy New Year! COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and provide a bit of insight into what faces our office on Monday after our office was closed for the holidays last Thursday and Friday.   As I type this it is late Sunday night and I just could not resist taking a peek at the Office Email Account.   Since we closed the office on Wednesday we have received close to 400 emails and although I did not check our voice mail box, it is a safe bet that it is full and needs to be cleaned out. Upon returning to the office on Monday my staff and I will do our best to respond to all of the email and voice mail, and I am pretty sure our phone will ring constantly and we will be visited by every express mail courier known to man on Monday and Tuesday.   On top of all this, history shows that over 1/3 of applicants each year submit their application within 72 hours of the deadline and we will be printing thousands of pieces of paper in the coming week. I am sharing all of this to give you an idea of the pace of activity in our office around the deadline and to provide some advice.   While we do take our deadline seriously, we also understand that there are sometimes extenuating circumstances and the crush of inquiries around the deadline does not always mean that we can respond right away.   Knowing this, we will work with applicants who we believe have made a good faith effort to submit their application and all of the associated documents by the deadline. My number one piece of advice is that if you have a question or concern, please email sipa_admission@columbia.edu.   We are able to respond to email in a much more efficient manner and it also provides a sort of paper trail for us to follow (I realize emails are not paper, its just an expression that old people like me who went to college when there was no Internet are attached to).   Emails are much easier to track and respond to than voice mail, we can answer email any time, not just during business hours, and you can send an email any time regardless of what time zone you are in or what continent you might be on. We appreciate your patience and look forward to reviewing your application.   If in doubt about anything, make sure to submit Parts 1 and 2 of your application by the deadline (January 5th) and if you have concerns about anything please send us an email. Happy New Year! COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog Please note that the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid will close at 5:00 P.M. on December 31st and will reopen on January 5th, 2009 at 9:00 A.M.   Happy New Year and we look forward to the application reading season.